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Initiative for Leadership Education And Development (iLead)

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Why We Exist (iLead Mission)

The student leadership development program strives to foster a culture of leadership growth and through its efforts to contribute to Grove City College’s larger educational project of cultivating wisdom for living well in God’s world. iLead seeks to provide meaningful educational opportunities for students to develop in Christian character and in their ability to influence others and promote life-enhancing change.

Areas of Leadership Growth (iLead Learning Outcomes)

1. Self-understanding and Self-affirmation – This outcome covers themes of identity, gifts, strengths, calling, defining leadership as well as its role in your life and how it is intimately related to your lifestyle practices, which stem from your mind’s beliefs and heart’s affection.

3. Character and Integrity – In this outcome we grapple with proper motivations for leading, the relevance of the Christian virtues for leadership practice, belief-behavior consistency, internal-external congruence, being honest and authentic, taking personal responsibility for one’s choices, respecting others’ dignity, etc.

4. Conflict Management and Resolution – This outcome pertains to working through disagreements and interpersonal tension with respect and a motive for reconciliation and (when with fellow believers) Christian unity. It also encourages civility, self-expression, courage, dispositional openness to ‘the other,’ honest self-examination, repentance, forgiveness, humility, etc.

5. Teamwork – Knowing how to effectively follow, collaborate and meaningfully contribute to the team is vital for team flourishing. This outcome focuses on effective followership, giving and receiving feedback, negotiation, interdependence, and appreciation of differences.

Assumptions We Make About Leadership and Leadership Development

1. We envision the leader as a cultural steward who must be attentive to the formative role of cultural and social institutions, traditions, networks, and artifacts on our lives together.

2. We understand “leadership success” in terms of contributions to the flourishing of others and in terms of faithfulness to one’s callings.

3. We treat character as inseparable from our understanding of leadership.

4. We pursue a vision of leadership and leadership development that is grounded in a vision of human flourishing promoted in the College’s humanities core.

5. We affirm that God created each person with a web of talents and gifts, and thus pursue a strengths-oriented approach to leadership and leadership development.

How We Believe Leadership Ability is Best Developed (Our Pedagogy)

1. Action(Vital Engagement) – Leadership is a practical discipline, and vital engagement describes the way in which a student leader should practice leadership in order to maximally grow.

2. Dialogue(Dialogue in Community) – This dialogue includes reading, classes, conversations, seminars, workshops, seeking out mentors, etc. Engaging this dialogue in a community of peers and elders is deeply formative and motivating.

3. Reflection(Intentional Reflection) – Leadership efforts are more life-giving when they flow from deep reservoirs of self-understanding and reflective living. Leading is a spiritual exercise that calls for us to love and know ourselves and our neighbors, both of which invite us to commune with and depend upon our Creator.

​Grove City College is committed to its students’ overall health and wellness. The Zerbe Health and Wellness Center is home to friendly and qualified health professionals who have chosen to work specifically with college students. ​​